Do you have a feeling you have too many balls in the air at the same time? Are the everyday life pressures keeping you from your own personal goals? Do you feel there’s always something that requires your attention that distracts you from the things you are trying to improve?

Sounds like ‘juggling’, the activity we women are sometimes almost proud of. Or at least we have decided to own it so profoundly that it surely comes up in every female executive interview (‘how do you juggle family and work?’) and dinner conversation between friends.

I was recently at a lovely dinner with seven brilliant and bright ladies who all manage to combine meaningful career and family life. After hearing my story of running one company, building a women’s network and doing a tech start-up, whilst spending time with my husband and five year old twin boys, one woman asked me how on earth do I manage to juggle all of this?

In that very moment when I answered I realised what the secret is, I’ve stopped juggling. Until recently I was very stressed out thinking I should do all of these things at the same time. That didn’t work. A couple of weeks ago I got a mild panic attack! But like any set back or obstacle in life, it thought me an important lesson.

I’m not supposed to keep all the balls in the air at the same time. I’m supposed to push each ball separately at my own phase.

I’ve learned to be fully present at what I’m doing and I don’t try to do more than one thing at the same time. This means that when I’m with my kids, I’m with my kids. I don’t try to write emails or send Tweets at the same time. I fully enjoy my kids company.

And when I’m working I will let them know that ‘mummy has to work now and doesn’t want to be interrupted.’ It works because I’ve explained that if they want to sit at the front of the plane any day soon, they will have to let me work.

Here’s 8 tactics that have helped me to stop juggling:

1) Delegate

You have to give up part of the workload and delegate to others. We have an au pair who lives with us. Yes, it felt odd at the start to have someone stay with us, but I find it’s a small price to pay for a clean kitchen and flexibility with childcare.

2) Trust others

Once you’ve delegated tasks, It’s important to trust others to do the job. They may not do it the same way as you’d do it, but not all jobs need to be completed to the highest standards.

3) Focus on one thing

When you are focused on a task, don’t let yourself be distracted by other unfinished tasks. The world (and especially a family household!) is full of unfinished tasks. Most can remain unfinished (at least for now).

4) Create habits

My weekly schedule looks pretty much the same from week to week. I’ve dedicated time slots for all three businesses and the schedule repeats. Apart from standard weekly meetings I don’t take many meetings. I know I have to allocate time for getting things actually done.

I let un-critical things fall by the wayside. I’ve long given up perfection on things that don’t really matter (like keeping the playroom tidy) and I’ve stopped doing things because I think I should.

6) Batch

I wrote a post on this earlier. The idea is to hold tasks until a dedicated time slot and do all similar tasks together. Stops you from working reactively and bouncing to every impulse or request thrown at you.

7) Complete

If you got so far as to focus on only one task, and have blocked all distractions, it’s important then to capture that moment to complete what you started. Get that one ‘ball’ over a finish line so you can ad an item to your ‘Done List‘. It can be a sub-section of a larger project but important thing is to finish what you are doing to avoid juggling.

I’ve visualised ‘focusing on one ball’ as opposed to ‘juggling many balls in the air’ in my head. This mental exercise has helped me to appreciate everything I do more and not pile up unnecessary (=unimportant) tasks. I try to ‘let go’ as much as I can.

Do you find ‘juggling’ a problem? What methods or tactics have you used to stop ‘juggling’ or to reduce stress?

Thanks Miisa – just the article I needed to read this morning as I am attempting to juggle working on my business and 2 of my girls off school for Inset Day!! You have given me permission to focus on the girls and let me delegate to my VA today! I have got better at keeping weekends free for the family and if I am organised on Friday this means I can relax over the weekend as I have the next week organised and I know where I am with it all. I love the idea of ‘done lists’ too – will try and start doing that.
Have a super week everyone.
Rebecca x

Thank you for reporting back Jane! I think this will be very useful and inspiring for all of us. Isn’t it amazing how doing less and taking a break, and you end up getting more done! THAT is what I call the #magicpill 😉

Lovely blog Miisa. i have to apologise for the long delay for not replying to the blog since i read it yesterday but i have been juggling an enormous amount of balls lately and I have not had a moment to think. Even now I have stopped to talk to a coach about a track meet and prepare the girls their dinner ugh. As a Sports Agent my juggling is seasonal and I have to juggle a lot of balls sometime furiously ,sometimes intermittently. I have accepted that this is how it is for certain periods of the year but what i know I can control is the introduction of the sly balls that work themselves into the Juggle without an invitation. This is an absolute No now as there is a time and place for them to exist. i have to be in control to the rhythm of my beat.

Sometimes we make life harder than it needs to be. A really good reminder of the importance of the simple and practical, but also fundamental, things that we can do to make our days more enjoyable as well as productive. Thanks Miisa.

Hi girls…hey jen we’ve all got schedules and work seasons. But I love the way ur finding ur rhythm.
I’m just finding mine. Well actually I’ve know bout it for decades. I just never understood it.
At the moment it’s 5 am starts….total breakdown at 3pm then back on it about 8 pm and bed at 1am

it all sounds a bit nuts…but it’s really working!
Ps great sales this week re new business and I’ve done less…go figure?
Pps I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed myself more….and yes I’m totally broke ; ) But not for long xxx

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Hi, I’m Miisa, founder and chief doer at DrivenWoman. In this blog I want to share personal development stories and ideas on how to live a bigger life. We can all learn and inspire each other if we openly talk about our experiences. Please leave a comment and share these articles with your friends.